2007 HARVEST NEWSLETTER

Transcription

1 2007 HARVEST NEWSLETTER With harvest quickly approaching, its time again to let all of you know where we will be receiving crops. Attached is an insert which shows what crops each station will be receiving. Unfortunately with all the different crops we handle now, it s impossible to be able to receive everything at one elevator, so we want to apologize for the inconvenience. Reminder, please make sure your truck drivers know what they are hauling and landlord information when opening a new lot. A note to the scale person or a phone call before keeps mistakes from happening. Also, if any of you need identity preserved space for seed or any thing else, please get a hold of us as soon as possible. We want to remind everyone that maximum moisture on all crops is 12.0% with exemption to mustard or canola which is 8.0% max. If you ve used your truck for seed last spring please make sure that all treat is cleaned out of your truck and box is washed! Thanks for using Genesee Union as your warehouse provider. We really appreciate your business and the success the company has had in the past. Please have a safe and pleasant harvest! Year End Financial The Fiscal Year Ended on May 31, 2007 and here is a recap of how your Cooperative did during that 12-month period. Total Net Savings before taxes was $650,709. $451,957 Net Margin has been allocated to our members. Of the $451,957, 10% was derived from Seed Sales, 42% from Processing/Pulse Plant, 25% from Storage and Handling and 23% from Grain Marketing. Broken down, this equates to a 3.0 per bushel return for wheat and $1.00 per ton for barley delivered to Genesee Union Warehouse bins. For grain delivered to Lewis-Clark Terminal in Lewiston we are returning 4/10 of 1 per bushel on wheat and per ton on barley. On the Pulse side of our operation we will be returning per cwt. On seed sales, for every $100 of sales we will be refunding $1.91 back to the patron. Finally for every $100 paid we will be returning $14.81 for storage and handling. The Board of Directors, at their July meeting, declared a 45% Cash Dividend on Current Net Margin to be paid by the end of July. Also, the Board allocated $143,862 to pay past Book Credits. 80% of this amount will pay Genesee Union s Fiscal Year End (FYE) 1997 Book Credits and the remaining 20% will be used to pay off the balance of the old Johnson Union s Fiscal Year Ending 1973 and 22% of Johnson s FYE With all that being said, your Cooperative will be sending out past and present patronage checks totaling more than $347,200. Should you have any questions about the year- end numbers and/or checks received, please do not hesitate to call the office. Merger Update Many of our members have asked about the status of the potential merger with Whitman County Growers. As of this date, Genesee Union is still in the investigative phase and there is a lot of work yet to be done in order for the Genesee Board of Directors to make an informed decision. We hope that you will continue to have patience and we will update you as soon as any information becomes available.

2 Grain Market News One year ago on this date versus today s markets for August delivery in Portland are listed below: Last Year This Year Difference Soft White $3.86/bu $6.54/bu +$2.68/bu Hard Red Winter $5.27/bu $6.76/bu +$1.49/bu Hard Red Spring $5.64/bu $6.95/bu +$1.31/bu Feed Barley $111/ton $171/ton +$60/ton Wow, soft white wheat has gained $2.68/bu in one short year and barley has climbed $60/ton in that same time span. What were the main reasons for the big price swings? Production problems through out many of the main wheat producing areas of the world, (mainly Australia) on top of a tightening world stocks. Also along with increasing demand this has put us into a 30 year low on world wheat stocks. So what lies ahead for our grain markets as we head into harvest? The European Union prices have raised across the board on poor production prospects. The Black sea region (former Soviet Union) has talked of suspending exports. China looks to export feed wheat only this coming year, and again Australia is going to be a major factor in our prices this coming fall. Current projections for Australia have them producing a 22 MMT wheat crop. Lately the rains have been skimpy in the Queensland and Western Australia states. There is speculation going around the trade that the Aussie s crop could come in as low as 18 MMT. With all of the above being said we are looking for prices to remain fairly stable at these higher levels. We do need to keep a close watch on the funds and their positions. They currently have a lot of money invested in the Chicago wheat futures and if they decide to liquidate these positions then we could see our cash prices come under some pressure if those liquidations come to fast into the market place. If we see any hiccups in world production then the markets have a chance to go even higher than where they are today. Pulse Outlook Peas Pea production in the US is on a slight rise but the largest increases in plantings this year were in yellow peas. India and China have already purchased a tremendous amount of new crop yellow and green peas from the mid-west and Canada. This will only help bring down the supplies. We expect current prices to remain at these levels and if we see a surge again from Asia, prices may even go higher. Lentils Demand for Pardina lentils remains high going into harvest. The past few years we have seen Spanish buyers going to Canada to buy cheaper crimson lentils. This was caused by a perceived perception by the Spaniards that not enough Pardinas existed. The reason they had that perception is because growers were holding for higher prices and lentils were not being sent into the market place. We believe the Spanish are now willing to pay the higher prices and with selling by the growers, we can keep this market intact and not lose it to the Canadian crimson market.

3 Garbanzos Higher plantings in Canada this year may have an impact on the PNW garbanzo prices. Canada and the mid-west have planted a large acreage of smaller caliber beans and the smaller caliber may have a downward effect on the large bean prices. Turkey has finished their harvest and as usual, we do not know any harvest production numbers. We do know the Turks are keeping their prices high because they are selling into the Muslim markets for Ramadan. After Ramadan, they may drop prices but hopefully, they keep their pricing high. We expect prices to remain high again this year. Seed Plant News The two previous years had been crazy looking at Ascochyta in the garbs, pea enation in the peas and lentils, and stripe rust in wheat. However this year has been a different story. Other than some army worms in a few chickpea fields and heavier than normal aphid in the spring wheat, things have been quiet. The lack of rain keeps the pests away! Even though we re four inches behind normal precipitation the crops look amazingly well. We re going to see slightly below normal yields on the rim but we believe the inland crops should be at or above normal. Pray for rain this fall! Chickpeas This was the least amount of blight we ve seen in the last seven or eight years. Most farmers added a fungicide with the grassy weed herbicides. Even though it has stayed dry and ascochyta wasn t a problem, we still strongly support this practice because it helps plant health. We saw heavy armyworm pressure in the Pullman area this year and most fields in that area were sprayed. By now, most caterpillars have morphed and shouldn t be a problem. The chickpeas have finished blooming but pod set has been good and we feel we will see yields comparable to last year. There re plenty of weeds this year and most fields will need to be desiccated. Weed control has been inconsistent to say the least. However, it looks like we will have Lorox (Linuron) labeled for pulses by next spring and in this year s herbicide trials this chemical looks really promising, especially in the lentils and garbs something to discuss next winter. Please give us a call when or if you think your field needs to be desiccated. Lentils Our stands of lentils this year have been about the best I ve ever seen. I m not sure if adding Cruiser to the lentils and chickpeas was the sole reason but it sure must have helped. Some later seeded fields shut down early because of the heat but overall the pod counts appear to be better than what we ve seen the last three years. They also have some height this year which will make harvest a little more pleasant, I hope! Peas Just like the lentils and spring grains, the earlier you seeded peas, the better the yields will be. There weren t many aphids and leaf cutters this year but what was lacking in those insects made up for it in stinging weevil. We feel we re looking at average to above average yields on the peas. The rim is running below average because of the heat but the quality looks excellent. The Aragorn s look tremendous this year and will probably be the pea of choice for next year. We have a seed field of Pro 7053 at Colton, and this new variety looks even better than the Aragorns. It s taken a long time but we re finally seeing some really good varieties now available!

4 Spring Wheat Yield potential has fallen off because of our desert climate we ve seemed to inherit this year. Most plants aborted the secondary tillers but there is good grain fill in the primary tillers. Yields should be average and the heat should help us make protein in the hard red and white wheat. Six dollar wheat will make ordinary yields look really good this year! Like the pulses, the earlier seeded the better the yields will be. We saw some cereal leaf beetle in the spring grain this year but nothing we saw seemed to warrant spraying. Also, we could find stripe rust in most fields but the infection came in late and stayed on the lower leaves and did not move up on the flag leaves or heads. Spring Barley A once forgotten crop has now gotten some attention with these strong prices. Like the wheat, yields should be average. The draws will have excellent test weight while the ridges could be a challenge to keep in the combine! We re really excited about some promising new markets for barley, and with these strong prices should now make it a profitable crop to grow in addition to the health benefits it has for the soil. Fall Varieties Last fall we were scrambling for red wheat seed! Everyone wanted to plant hard red winter wheat because of the strong basis over white wheat. It ll be interesting to see what demand will be like this fall now that the basis has weakened. My opinion, for what its worth, is that it pays to be diverse. Having hard red, club and white wheat on the farm every year will enable you to participate in some of the marketing opportunities that arise with these three market classes. Here s what we re offering this fall: Hard Reds Boundary is the old stand by that has proven hard to beat for yield. It s a U of I release in It s a slow starter in the fall and hard to find when the snow melts but when the sun hits it tillers great. Because of this, it performs well on later ground like north of Genesee. Unfortunately the quality is sub-par to Eddy and Paladin. Eddy is new variety released by Western Plant Breeders. Quite a bit of acreage of this got put out last fall. It s three or four days earlier than any other variety available which would make it a good choice for early ground. It has excellent quality but susceptible to rust on the bad years. Paladin is AgriPro s new introduction in the PNW. It competes well with Eddy on yield and slightly higher protein than Eddy and Boundary. It has a better rust package than Boundary and Eddy. Also, it s the best for end use quality. Maturity: three days later than Eddy but three days earlier than Boundary. Clubs Hiller is ARS release and has been variety of choice the past few years. It is fairly early and has stiff straw. Hiller is harder to thrash than most but pours in the bulk tank. It is slightly susceptible to stripe rust. Farmers have been blending it with Chukar and have had really good luck with the blend.

5 Chukar is another ARS release that has been out for about 5 years. It has an excellent disease package similar to Madsen. Its only drawback is its fairly late. It s probably the best wheat I ve looked at this year for yield potential. IMI Bruehl is a GMG release that can be used in a Clearfield program. It has good stripe rust resistance and should be comparable to Hiller for yield in our area. It should have better straw strength than Mel. White Wheat We will be carrying Brundage 96, Mohler, Madsen, Rod, Lambert, Tubbs, Finch, WB 528 and ORCF 102 for this fall. Brundage 96 has been the most popular the past couple of years and it looks good again this year. The end-use quality on Brundage is superior to anything else available and should be considered when choosing a variety to grow. We like WB 528 for the rim areas because of its early maturity and high test weight. ORCF 102 is a good choice to use in Clearfield system. It has more Madsen in its parentage so its disease package is fairly decent and has excellent yield potential. We are starting to clean wheat for this fall so please get an order in if you have an indication for what you want. There has been some interest in using Wave, a Bio Inoculant for promoting root growth, on the fall wheat. We are going to try to offer this for those that want it but it only lasts 30 days when applied to the seed before needing to be planted. So, it will take some coordination to make this work. I ve walked a lot of wheat fields this summer and my favorites are Eddy, Brundage 96 and Chukar. We ll see what the test plots say! We will post our test plot data on our website once those are harvested. Another great source is John Burns site: for current yield results from several sites across Washington State. They post results as soon as test plots are harvested. Have a Great Harvest!